Why castro was successful

Castro was a man of his times, who channelled widespread desire for change. His revolution addressed pressing problems and provided an alternative to moderate reform efforts cut short by elites and CIA-backed military coups. As well as remembering him for changing the world, we need to remember the reasons his actions and ideas resonated as powerfully as they did. Tanya Harmer is associate professor in the department of international history at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Fidel Castro will be remembered in strikingly different ways. To many Cubans he will be regarded as the father of the Cuban Revolution who, with courage and skill, defeated the efforts of its mighty American neighbour to overthrow him at the Bay of Pigs in , survived several CIA assassination plots, and sustained the revolution for half a century.

His supporters will also point to his success in enhancing the quality of life for Cubans by establishing free and universal education and medical care. In , Batista tried to snuff out the uprising with a massive offensive, complete with air force bombers and naval offshore units. The guerrillas held their ground, launched a counterattack and wrested control from Batista on January 1, Castro arrived in Havana a week later and soon took over as prime minister.

At the same time, revolutionary tribunals began trying and executing members of the old regime for alleged war crimes. In , Castro nationalized all U. This prompted the United States to end diplomatic relations and impose a trade embargo that still stands today. Their plans ended in disaster, however, partially because a first wave of bombers missed their targets and a second air strike was called off. Ultimately, more than exiles were killed and nearly everyone else was captured. Castro publicly declared himself a Marxist - Leninist in late Ostracized by the United States, Cuba was becoming increasingly dependent on the Soviet Union for economic and military support.

After a day standoff, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed to remove the nukes against the wishes of Castro, who was left out of the negotiations. In return, U.

President John F. Kennedy publicly consented not to reinvade Cuba and privately consented to take American nuclear weapons out of Turkey. After taking power, Castro abolished legal discrimination, brought electricity to the countryside, provided for full employment and advanced the causes of education and health care, in part by building new schools and medical facilities. But he also closed down opposition newspapers, jailed thousands of political opponents and made no move toward elections.

Castro knew the caravana was critical to cementing his political future. But that leadership was not yet the leadership of Cuba. But it was not yet decisive. First into Havana, whether through idealism or naivety, the Second Front did not take army bases or government buildings. The Revolutionary Directorate had other ideas. It acquired weapons from an army base, storing them at its old hub, the university, and took the presidential palace, the site of its major uprising against Batista in The Directorate demanded reward for its long opposition to Batista.

As soon as the M26 legates arrived in Havana, Castro ordered them to take the garrisons. He handed Cienfuegos and the M26 the most important barracks in Cuba.

Victory for the rebel coalition was now confirmed. The insurrection was over, but the shape the revolution would take was still uncertain. Now that he was unquestionably the most powerful figure in Cuba, for the rest of his journey he focused on ensuring it was he who directed the outcome of the revolution. To further his plan, the caravana made a significant detour off the Central Highway to the southern city of Cienfuegos.

It was an important naval base and Castro wanted to pay homage to its marines, who had revolted against Batista in As importantly, the city had been liberated by the Second Front. As the M26 controlled every other major garrison, prison, port and airport in Cuba, Cienfuegos was somewhere Castro was relatively weak. Worse still, it was being governed by a gringo , William Morgan.

By now, Castro was only 90 miles from Havana. Relations began spiraling down, until their final break in January Castro in Credit: WGBH archives. In December , only a few months after the U. Shortly thereafter he asked the Soviet Union for weapons, advisers, and even Soviet soldiers.

The Soviets proposed a different defense -- medium-range ballistic missiles. Castro agreed. When in October American U-2 spy planes photographed missile sites in Cuba, the world approached the brink of a nuclear confrontation.

As the tensions of the Missile Crisis escalated, Castro wrote Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev urging him to use the missiles and to sacrifice Cuba if necessary. Kennedy to withdraw the missiles, without consulting Castro. Castro was infuriated to discover that the Soviet Union would treat Cuba just as the United States had -- as an insignificant island in the middle of the Caribbean.

In the end, Castro emerged a winner. Yet the Cuban revolution continued to face threats, as a U. And the economic embargo the U. Castro was fiercely committed to creating his own revolutionary world and to fighting imperialism whenever and wherever the opportunity arose -- in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East. When his revolutionary goals clashed with those of his Soviet benefactor he nevertheless pursued them. Among Kremlin officials he became known as "the viper in our breast.